Bloody Handprints
by sunsetbabe17
Summary: How far is Steve willing to go to save a best friend who doesn't even remember him? What if Bucky's escape from the Berlin Joint Counter Terrorist Centre went a little differently? One-Shot


**Disclaimer: Marvel owns the Avengers.**

 **Bloody Handprints**

 _Berlin Joint Counter Terrorist Centre_

Out of the corner of her eye, Natasha spotted Sharon Carter enter the room that Steve and Sam were being held in. They were all currently watching the psychiatrist evaluate the recently captured Winter Soldier.

"Hello, Mr. Barnes. I've been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you. Do you mind if I sit? I'm not here to judge you, I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James? I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

"My name is Bucky."

The former Russian spy shifted on the balls of her feet. She had a bad feeling in her gut, something about this just seemed off. Over the years she had learned to trust her instincts, so grabbing a nearby StarkPad and ignoring Tony's "Hey I was using that!" (really, they had like five different screens around the room playing the same scene) she made her way down to the sublevels. She'd like to see them try and keep her out.

Before reaching her destination, the building went dark and without pause she switched her brisk walk to a sprint.

She quickly sprang into action as she saw the guards aiming lethal rounds at Barnes. Pulling up on the gun of the nearest guard, his shot went wild and pinged off the ceiling. Bending low she swept the next guard's feet out from under him.

Clearing a path, she made her way to Bucky and ducked the swift punch he sent her way with his powerful metallic arm. Springing back up she took note of his blank face and realized this was not Bucky Barnes that she was dealing with, but the Winter Soldier.

They exchanged a flurry of blows, neither one landing a successful hit. That is until one of the many bullets zooming through the air made contact.

Natasha was slightly thrown off balance and it was enough for the Soldier's vibranium arm to connect and send her crashing into the wall of the corridor, her head making a sickening smack and her vision going dark.

Steve made it to the lower levels ahead of Sam and scanned the area. He didn't see Bucky; however, he saw his path of destruction. The bodies of the guards littered the ground. A light moan caught his attention and he saw Natasha struggle into a sitting position against the wall.

"Nat!"

She blearily blinked her eyes into focus as she saw Steve kneel in front of her. Then, she hissed in pain as he stripped off his jacket and applied pressure to the bleeding bullet wound in her side. She saw the guilt swimming in his blue eyes.

"It wasn't Bucky." Apparently, it didn't matter to him who pulled the trigger, he was still going to blame himself.

She could tell he was torn between staying with her and going after his best friend. Gently grasping his hand holding the jacket to her side she made the decision for him, "Go."

Her hands replaced his on the jacket, slowing the flow of blood. Though before he was fully standing again she had grasped the collar of his shirt, smearing her blood on it, and yanked him down so that his lips met hers.

He quickly shot his hand out to steady himself on the wall behind her so as not to crush her as he awkwardly hunched over her. Her tongue traced his bottom lip, seeking entrance and he welcomed her.

All too soon, she pulled back and loosened her grip on his shirt, "Alright, now you can go." She lightly patted his chest.

He took a moment to catch his breath and searched her face, trying to understand what just happened, but her beautiful eyes remained closed. Leaning forward he placed a soft kiss on her forehead and left without another word. He didn't know what to say and she would see through any false platitudes that everything would be ok, claiming he was still a terrible liar. Though he had gotten better, he had still never been able to fool her.

Natasha kept her eyes closed, not wanting to watch him walk away from her as she sat bleeding on the floor. She didn't know what had come over her and would blame this on the concussion she surely had due to her collision with the wall.

Once his footsteps had faded she opened her eyes and swallowed back the nausea as the room span before her. Closing her eyes again she took a deep breath and told herself she would give herself another minute and then would start moving.

"Natashalie!"

"Steve…" slowly blue eyes became brown, and light hair turned dark. She blinked in confusion and noticed the now rather large pool of blood around her, damn must have been longer than a minute.

Tony was before her taking in the bloody handprint on the wall behind her and her more than usual pale features.

"It's going to be ok," He scooped her up as gently as he could, not caring that her blood was now turning his expensive Tom Ford suit crimson.

"No," she tried to grab Steve's jacket stained with her blood as it fell out of her weak grasp.

Misunderstanding her distress, Tony reassured her, "It's me Tony, I've gotcha Natasha. A little help here!"

 _Berlin Airport_

Tony and Rhodey landed in front of Steve, "Wow it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Do you think that's weird?"

"Definitely weird," Rhodey agreed.

"Hear me out Tony, that doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this," Steve attempted to explain.

"Captain," Black Panther arrived on the scene.

"Your highness," Steve addressed the man.

Tony continued, "Anyway Ross gave me thirty-six hours to turn you in, that was twenty-four hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"

"You're after the wrong guy," Steve tried again.

"Your judgement is askew, your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday. She's still alive in case you wanted to know. For now anyway, she's still in surgery. I know you were there, you left her there to bleed to death." Tony couldn't believe the lengths Steve seemed willing to go to for his old friend turned assassin.

Steve hung his head, unable to look Tony in the eye, ashamed. The comm crackled in his ear and he heard Clint's voice, "Who is he talking about, Steve?"

"Tony-" he wet his suddenly dry throat. He was relieved to hear she was ok, but right now they had bigger things to worry about.

"Steve, who is Tony talking about?" Clint persisted.

Suddenly his shield was gone and his hands were tied with what appeared to be webbing and there was a newcomer on the scene.

Raising his hands high in the air, Clint stopped his incessant questioning and shot an arrow through the webbing.

 _Berlin Hospital_

Natasha woke up, groggy from the medication. She squinted her eyes no wait the walls were actually moving, well more like she was being moved on her gurney. Her head hurt, but her arm was stopped halfway there and she heard a faint click of metal on metal, her wrists were in cuffs.

"She's waking up, give her another dose."

"No!" She struggled, but it was no use as she was loaded onto the waiting helicopter.

 _The Raft_

Once the last prisoner was locked into his cell, the guards went back to their regular posts.

"Please tell me you aren't here to rescue me," Natasha teased as she greeted her fellow prisoners. Ross had her thrown in the Raft, convinced she had helped Bucky in his escape. It was her word against his and the words of a spy and turncoat didn't really hold much weight.

"Tasha!" A wave of relief washed over Clint, when she hadn't made an appearance at the airport he began to fear that something bad had happened to her. "You're alright?!"

"Of course I am," she shrugged off his concern. "So, what happened?" She noticed a few missing team members.

Clint filled her in on what happened at the airport, who the fake psychiatrist was, and his plans, and that Steve and Bucky were still out there trying to stop him.

A few days later all their cell doors popped open and they cautiously stepped out, wary of a trap.

Clint rushed to Wanda's side quickly releasing her from the straight jacket and removing the collar that was inhibiting her powers.

They all tensed when they heard footsteps heading their way and then relaxed once they recognized the approaching figure as Steve.

Upon spotting a familiar redhead, Steve made a beeline for her and captured her lips with his.

"Did I miss something?" Sam didn't realize anything was going on between Steve and Natasha.

Clint frowned in confusion and glanced at Wanda who had a slight smile on her face because of course she had known about the feelings that the captain and the spy had for each other. She was glad they were finally acting on them, it was about time.

"He's not gonna greet us all like that is he?" Scott questioned.

Startled Natasha barely had time to catch her breath before Steve was pivoting on his heel, grasping her hand with his and making his way out of the room.

"Let's go." The rest quickly shook of their daze and followed as alarms started blaring throughout the prison.

Steve kept up a quick pace and while normally Natasha had no problems keeping up, her wounded side felt like it was on fire and her breaths were coming in sharp pants.

Finally taking notice that he was practically dragging the petite woman behind him he wrapped one arm under her legs and one at the small of her back, lifting her into his arms.

"Steve," Natasha growled, they would definitely be talking about this later.

Taking a sharp corner, they ran right into a guard. Steve made an aborted move for a shield that was no longer there and realized that he didn't even have a free hand. However, before the guard could even raise his gun, he fell back from a bullet to the head.

Steve's brows furrowed and he looked down to see the gun in Natasha's hand, arm outstretched towards where the guard had been standing. When did she get a gun? Shaking his head, he continued on, there would be time to wonder about that later. They needed to get out of there.

They made it outside and Steve led them to a jet. He set her down in a seat and did up her seat belt. She rolled her eyes at his antics, but it was obviously making him feel better and she didn't want their first conversation after all that's happened to be a petty argument.

He went to the front of the jet with Clint and they took off.

 _Wakanda_

Natasha was sitting on the side of the bed of the room T'Challa had provided for her when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Steve entered as she was pulling her shirt down over her wound that she had just re-bandaged. There was some bleeding from stretching the stitches, but luckily none had been pulled out.

Steve swiftly knelt in front of her and lifted her shirt back up slightly to inspect the wound for himself.

She huffed and pushed his hands away, "Steve I am fine."

"I am so sorry, Natasha."

"Hey, hey," she cupped his face, "None of this is your fault Steve."

His shoulders slumped and his knees cracked as he got to his feet, "I should let you rest."

She grabbed his wrist as he turned towards the door, "Where do you think you're going?" she cocked her head. He gave her a puzzled look and she just scooted further in the bed and patted the space beside her.

"Come on, you owe me." Now she would use his guilt to her advantage, "I was shot, woke up alone, handcuffed to a hospital bed, and was then thrown in jail."

Steve smirked, "Actually, I think this makes us even." He thought back to when they were on the run from SHIELD, the bombing of the bunker, and regrouping at Sam's.

Natasha chuckled as Steve climbed into the bed anyway, "Oh is Captain America keeping score now? What happened to," and here she lowered her voice in her best Captain America impersonation, "It's alright."

"That is not what I sound like," he wrapped his arm around her, careful to avoid touching her wound and she snuggled into his side.

Tilting her head up she lightly brushed her lips to his, "Knew you'd come back for me." She laid her head on his chest, knowing that now that they were together everything would be ok.

The last of the tension drained out of his body as he held her close.

"Hey Tasha," Clint eased her door open the next morning and stopped short as he saw his best friend tangled up with none other than Steve Rogers on the bed.

Pulling out his phone he quickly snapped a picture, "Laura is gonna love this." As soon as his finger hit the send button a pillow hit him in the face and he stumbled back out of the room.


End file.
